Boards: Noah Beschen’s Family Jewel

Some families have a family doctor who knows their medical history and genetic predispositions going back multiple generations. Noah Beschen’s family has a family shaper armed with an expert understanding of their surfing bloodline. You may have heard of him: Matt Biolos, the man behind …Lost and one of the best in the biz. You also may have heard of Noah’s father: Shane Beschen, Kelly Slater’s ‘90s nemesis, the only man to ever score three perfect 10s in ASP competition, and longtime test pilot for …Lost. So unlike when most of us were groms and bought a board off the used rack at the local surf shop and prayed it worked, Noah has an entire generation of Beschen/Biolos R&D that makes finding his magic board as turnkey as taking a fingerprint. –Leo Maxam

NOAH: I’ve never ridden a board that wasn’t a Mayhem. I’ve literally spent my whole entire life riding them. My dad has ridden Mayhems for most of his life, so when I was a baby he would take me out on his boards. I remember I got my very first custom Mayhem when I was 6.

To be honest, I’m not the kind of guy who’s calling Mayhem and saying, “Oh yeah, I want this, this and this.” My dad was always the one who would do that. He just knows what I want and what would be good for me. He would always be the guy who would get me dialed in with all my boards. And it’s still like that today. I’ll ride a board and he’ll watch me, and he’ll ask me how it feels and he tells Mayhem if my next board needs to be thicker or bigger or whatever.

This board is made for rippable waves. On our Grom Games trip I was riding it until the last couple days when it started barreling. Then I rode a little step up. I can ride this board at home on the North Shore most days and at most spots, even if it’s a little bigger and barreling, but when it gets real big and barreling I’ll ride a step up. This board is still in perfect shape. I’m about to go ride it right now.

My shortboard right now is a 5’0” and I feel like my next shortboard is gonna be a 5’2”. My boards used to be super small. Last year I was riding 4’10”s. This year I started riding 5’0”s. And now I’m taller than my 5’0”s so I’m probably gonna ride a 5’2”. I’ve been having a lot of growth spurts lately and my boards are gonna keep scaling up. At least I hope they keep scaling up, because hopefully I keep growing.